As a recently-retired Navy Reserve officer who works in tech, I think it's healthy to have both sides looking the other direction, to a point. If nothing else, it lets civilians and the military try to understand each other a bit more, and the huge cultural divide between them is a serious problem in American society.
Not enough civilians understand the military well enough to have informed opinions on what it does, and only see what Hollywood gives them. So we end up with this weird Madonna/Whore complex where vets are either shining heroes to be thanked for their service or broken, violent bums. Conversely, the military (especially the senior ranks) need to understand that they can't expect to transfer out immediately sideways into senior leadership roles in the private sector, any more than an attorney can become a software developer or a software developer can become a mechanical engineer. I mean, you CAN do these things, but only so many of your old skills and resume transfer over.
Not enough civilians understand the military well enough to have informed opinions on what it does, and only see what Hollywood gives them. So we end up with this weird Madonna/Whore complex where vets are either shining heroes to be thanked for their service or broken, violent bums. Conversely, the military (especially the senior ranks) need to understand that they can't expect to transfer out immediately sideways into senior leadership roles in the private sector, any more than an attorney can become a software developer or a software developer can become a mechanical engineer. I mean, you CAN do these things, but only so many of your old skills and resume transfer over.